Supporting the Drawers

It turns out, manufactured drawer glides less than 16" are not easy to find. No problem. I've always wondered how hard it is to make them myself. I decided to make side mount slides made out of 1/4" poplar. These will be attached to the case sides with screws, in case I need to replace them and to reduce the wood expansion problem. This helped me determine that the drawer sides must be at least 1/2" thick because I would have to cut grooves in them for the slides. The main reason I wanted to use the slides is to prevent the drawers from tipping down when opened.

Since I don't have a table saw, I was a little concerned about ripping the slides. I needed the slides to be about 3/4" high because that's the size of the router bit I would use to cut the drawer side grooves. Fortunatly, my circular hand-saw guide did the trick and I ended up with eight slides.

Next, I decided divider rails would be necessary to help support the drawers and allow me to add some kind of stop. The added these with pocket holes and glue, though I had to devise a method of screwing in the pocket screws with a rachet because my drill didn't fit.